[NOTE: The following article is a press release issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.]

BOSTON'S IRISH MOB WAS POISED TO KILL AN OUTSPOKEN JOURNALIST: KEVIN WEEKS SAYS HE HAD HOWIE CARR IN HIS RIFLE SIGHT, BUT CARR'S DAUGHTER GOT IN THE WAY -- "60 MINUTES" SUNDAY

Henchman of the FBI's Most-Wanted Criminal Speaks for the First Time

The man who helped James "Whitey" Bulger, the FBI's most wanted criminal, to rule Boston's streets through murder, robbery and drug dealing says he also tried to silence one of the city's top newspaper and radio personalities for Bulger. Kevin Weeks tells Ed Bradley in his first interview that he had radio talker and Boston Herald Columnist Howie Carr in his rifle sight but couldn't pull the trigger because Carr was with his daughter. Weeks' interview will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES, Sunday, March 12 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Bulger and Weeks wanted Carr dead because the journalist wrote and spoke about their crimes constantly. After a plan to put an exploding basketball in Carr's driveway was abandoned for fear it would harm neighbors, he and Bulger decided on a more direct way. "I was down at his house�about 5:30 in the morning, across the street in a cemetery with a rifle, waiting for him to come out," says Weeks. "And he come (sic) out�between 7:15, 7:30 and he had his daughter with him. I assume it was his daughter, young girl. He was holding her by the hand, going to his car. So I had to pass on it," he tells Bradley. "I didn't want to kill him in front of his daughter."

Carr lived across from a cemetery and acknowledges the possibility that Weeks may have been there, but believes Bulger was more apt to commit such a bold crime. "It doesn't seem like Kevin would have the stones to do it�If he said Whitey was there, well," Carr tells Bradley, "you wouldn't be interviewing me, because I'd be dead."

"Whitey" Bulger is wanted for the murder of 20 people and Weeks says he committed at least twice that many. Weeks, who has no regrets about his role in his boss's murderous doings, says Bulger had no set style for killing. "He stabbed people. He beat people with bats. He shot people. Strangled people. Run them over with cars," he remembers. The killing had a calming effect on Bulger according to Weeks. "After he would kill somebody, it was like a stress relief," says Weeks. "He'd be nice and calm for a couple of weeks afterwards."

Bulger disappeared after being tipped off by an FBI agent on the eve of his indictment in late 1994. Part of the reason he has been able to elude authorities is that he is so smart and focused. Says Weeks, "Ninety percent of his waking hours was (sic) devoted to crime, two percent to pleasure. He was very disciplined�no bad habits." He also amassed a fortune, secreting it away all over the world. "He was probably worth 30 to 50 million dollars," says Weeks.

The federal task force trying to catch the 76-year-old fugitive is ramping up its efforts, sending out old video of Bulger to the media in hopes someone might recognize his walk or mannerisms. Weeks thinks he's still in Europe, where the last confirmed sighting of him was in London in 2002. "I believe he's probably over in Europe somewhere�and he got trapped there after 9/11," Weeks tells Bradley.